173. The Isle; movie review

THE ISLE
Cert 15
96 mins
BBFC advice: Contains sexual threat, brief strong violence

I am beginning to get a clear impression that low-budget British film-makers are upping their game.
Or at least they have moved on from the wretched obsession with zombies.
Matthew Butler-Hart's The Isle has a small cast and no dazzling special effects and yet it conjures heightened unease with its eerie ghost story.
Set in 1846, it stars Alex Hassell, Fisayo Akinade and Graham Butler as sailors who make it to a remote Scottish island after their ship is wrecked and other hands are lost.
They are relieved to be offered shelter by one of the islanders (Dickon Tyrell) and are then passed on to another one (Conleth Hill) and his daughter (Tori Butler-Hart).
Five stars to anyone who has spotted that the director has returned to the faces who played in his previous two movies, Miss In Her Teens and Two Down.
I didn't see the former but the latter showed the potential which is bearing fruit in The Isle.
I digress.
Hill's character gives the shipwrecked trio umpteen warnings about dangers which lurk on the island but they don't take them nearly seriously enough.
Consequently, their lives are in peril because of a link with the past.
The creepiness of The Isle is conjured through dream sequences, a thick mist and what seems to be a ghost.
It is over-melodramatic at times but, as tales of its type go, I found it pretty engaging.
Indeed, The Isle can be added the list of recent low-budget British movies which have shown that lack of resource doesn't necessarily mean lack of imagination and quality.
Butler-Hart has proved consistently that he can conjure something from very little. I would be interesting to see the result if he was given more financial leeway.

Reasons to watch: Eerie ghost tale
Reasons to avoid: Over melodramatic in patches

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 6/10

Did you know? Fair Isle (not the one in the film) is the most remote inhabited island in the United Kingdom. It is roughly equidistant from Sumburgh Head, some 24 miles to the northeast on Shetland with North Ronaldsay, Orkney, 27 miles to the southwest.

The final word. Matthew Butler-Hart: "The actual island itself was a big inspiration for a lot of the story. We were invited to go and look at it as a possible location as the owner, Vanessa Branson, sister of the entrepreneur Richard, had always wanted something filmed there. It’s a very rugged island with only two inhabitants, no roads and only small boats to reach it. In the 1800s it had a thriving community and even a little school,but by the mid-1800s it was entirely deserted and remained so for a long time. "

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